Getting to Know The MLS In Preparation for Genesis League Soccer

Seeing that @splinterlands are moving into the sports arena with @genesisleague and I am a massive fan of both Splinterlands and football, I decided I am going to spread my wings across the pond and start covering the MLS League. Who knows.. Genesis may hire me as their MLS guy. Here's hoping. I have never really paid much attention to the league before but I have kept an eye on the players that go there such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Zlatan and more recently Garth Bale.
Doing some research for this post I found it amusing how the MLS set up. In 1988 FIFA gave them the 1994 world cup under one condition (well maybe more than one but anyway) that the Americans would set up a premier pro league affiliated with FIFA and hence the MLS was born.

Source

I first started really hearing about the MLS when Beckham signed for LA Galaxy and I sort of followed his progress as a player and then as an owner of one of the franchises of Inter Miami with his friend Phil Neville managing the team. Recently he gave Beckham's son and his own son their debuts so I am eager to see if this is a case of nepotism or if they genuinely good. There are not many writers on @sportstalksocial that cover the MLS so I think it will be a nice project for me to get into. But first we have to understand the MLS format which is what this post is about.

In traditional football in Europe you have divisions, normally around 4 or 5 in each country until you get down to the amateur leagues. When a team comes first in their division they win the title and either get promoted or be Champions of that country. If a team comes last then they get relegated down to the division below. Disaster for most teams and it means having to sell their best players and cut their finances. The top 2,3, or 4 teams in the premier division qualify for European Competition and this is where the Champions League and the Europa League comes in. They have a similar system in South America, the Middle East and Asia The MLS however has gone with the NFL type format and reading up on this I am actually intrigued by it and the more I look at it, the more I actually like it so let us now have a look at the MLS set up.

How many divisions is there in the MLS?

The MLS is broken up into two Conferences according to the teams location. And by the way it is not just America. It is Canada also.

There is the Eastern Conference and the West Conference. There is no relegation which I think is a problem but what do I know. There are 28 teams in total in 2022 (14 in each conference). The team with the most points in both conferences is awarded the Supporter Shield but there is also the more important MLS Cup which I will talk about below. Below are a list of teams in each conference in 2022.

Eastern Conference

Atlanta FC
Charlotte FC
Chicago Fire FC
FC Cincinnati
Columbus SC
D.C. United
Inter Miami CF
CF Montréal
New England Revolution
New York City FC
New York Red Bulls
Orlando City SC
Philadelphia Union
Toronto FC

Western Conference

Austin FC
Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo FC
Los Angeles Football Club
LA Galaxy
Minnesota United FC
Nashville SC
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders FC
Sporting Kansas City
Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Season Format

The regular season begins at the end of February or early March and runs until October. Not ideal for FIFA and planning internationals. They have thought about changing this but the harsh American and Canadian winters would put a stop to this.
Each team will play 34 matches in total. 17 at home and 17 away from home. Each team play the teams in their own conference twice just like a regular season in Europe. Both home and away.(26 games) But there is something extra. Each team will also play 8 x non-conference team (ie the other conference) just once which makes up the 34 matches. At the end of the regular season in October the top seven clubs from each conference will qualify for the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs. The points system is the same as normal in football. 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss.

The MLS Cup Playoffs

The Audi MLS Cup Playoffs consist of single-elimination matches hosted by the higher-seeded team and follow a straight bracket format through MLS Cup that takes place in November. The team that finish first in each conference get a bye to the quarter finals which I think is fair. The rest of the teams battle it out to reach the quarter final and then it goes from there. The winner becomes the League Champion of the Year. The higher a team comes in their conference then the higher their seed. So in the knockout stages a highest seed plays the lowest seed which is another reason for coming higher in the league.

International Competitions

We all love the Champions League in Europe so I was wondering if there is anything like this in the MLS and yes there is. Each year 5 teams from the MLS (4 from the USA and 1 from Canada) get to play in the COCCACAF Champions League which is the equivalent to our own Champions League, The team with the most points in each conference qualifies for the COCCACAF. So this means the Supporter Shield winner and the winner of the other conference. The third team to qualify is the MLS cup winner. The 4th team to qualify is the team that wins the US Open Cup. Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver compete against other Canadian sides in the Canadian Championship for the one CONCACAF place allocated to Canada.

Are you with me so far??
There is one thing I didn't explain from above.

So what is the US Open Cup you ask??

It is basically the American version of the famous FA Cup or the Spanish Copa Del Rey where the little semi pro teams can end up playing the bog boys. The MLS have two conferences but there is other pro leagues in the States such as NISA and the USL that compete in this. I always liked the idea of the cup winner getting a place in the International competition because European Leagues domestic cup competitions have fallen by the waste side in recent years and clubs are playing their reserves so they can keep their teams fit for the most more lucrative league games. The MLS teams mostly dominate the US Open Cup but last year a non league team called Sacramento FC reached the US Cup final. I imagine Ben Affleck or Adam Sandler are making a film about it as we speak.

Salary Cap

This is interesting and something like this needs to be done in Europe. The MLS have a salary cap of $4.9 million per team. They was set up to stop rich owners running away with the leagues like in Europe and to keep the league competitive. It was challenged many times but it still stands. The argument was that the MLS was suffering for not being able to attract the high quality players but this all changed with the Designated Players initiative that launched in 2007. It was nicknamed the Beckham Rule and it allowed teams to sign 3 players that were deemed outside their salary cap. Beckham was the first player to sign under this rule and he received a salary of $6.5 million annually. The MLS grants allocation money to every team in the MLS at the start of each season and this allocation funding can be also used to fund players salaries so there is a slight loosening of the reigns in this regard to keep quality coming to the MLS. Toronto for example now have Italian Lorenzo Insigne paying him a massive $12 million per year. Gareth Bale has also just signed for LAFC but his salary is undisclosed.

Sponsors

The MLS have many sponsors or partnerships but they control the clubs.
The shirt sponsor for every team is Adidas which again is unlike other leagues where the MLS have control and not the club. The clubs are treated as franchises like in NBA. During the season there is a break and an all stars game is played and an MVP (Most Valuable Player ) is awarded. At the end of each season the players and coaches, teams all vote on categories such as Newcomer of the Year Award, Comeback of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year. All very Americanized but again nice to see. The team franchises are becoming hot property with LAFC being valued now at $860 million. The MLS is growing at a considerable rate.

So there you have it. The general format of the MLS. From here on out I will be doing a weekly slot in what is going on in the League which will help me and all you Splinterland's nerds like myself get to grips with the trading cards. So if you get a legendary Gareth Bale card then hopefully you will know what to do with it.